Mercedes Debuts Acceleration Subscriptions for EQE, EQS

Mercedes-Benz has announced the Performance Acceleration On-Demand over-the-air update (OTA) for the all-electric EQS and EQE. While the update has the potential to boost output by as much as 80 horsepower on the EQS 450 4Matic, we doubt people will be singing its praises because the update is actually an upgrade that you'll have to purchase.

The Acceleration On-Demand “update” charges customers to add 60 horsepower to the EQE 350 4Matic and 80 hp to the EQS 450 4Matic — yielding some enviable changes in performance.

Mercedes claimed buying into the option reduces the EQE 350 sedan's launch from zero to 60 mph from 6.0 seconds to just 5.1 seconds. Meanwhile, the EQS 450 4MATIC sedan drops from 5.3 to 4.5 seconds, while the EQS 450 4MATIC SUV can shave off roughly a second to reach 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds.

But it’s not free. On EQE 350 models, the upgrade costs $60 per month, $600 per year, or $1,950 for the vehicle's lifetime. By contrast, the beefier EQS 450 upgrade is $90 per month, $900 per year, or $2,950 for the vehicle's lifetime.

We suppose that’s not an unreasonable price for the kind of power you’ll be getting if you actually had to wrench on the thing. However, nothing has been done to the vehicles other than the manufacturer remotely tweaking the code to unlock something that was presumably already available. It’s also worth noting that the EQS starts above $100,000.

News broke that this scheme would be forthcoming in the latter half of 2022 (though we didn’t know all the details) and Mercedes has been experimenting with subscription models for quite some time. But it’s not something that’s limited to one manufacturer. We’re seeing numerous car companies trying to control who has access to customer data by snubbing services like Apple CarPlay and leveraging vehicular connectivity to obfuscate the very concept of private ownership.

Your author has been moaning about this kind of stuff for years. Despite occasional assertions from the peanut gallery that this was tinfoil-hat nonsense, the writing has been on the wall for ages. Entertainment companies have been trying to move away from physical media for years in an effort to con you into paying for it repeatedly via subscription models. But the assumed profitability of endlessly charging customers for items has caught on and now everyone is dabbling with the concept of products-as-a-service (PaaS).

If you’re unfamiliar with the premise, it basically focuses on the financial outcomes of the way something can be “sold” instead of the product itself. It usually manifests when businesses attempt to tack subscription services onto a physical product or totally re-imagine how goods are owned — with the end result always leaving control in the hands of the manufacturer. The whole thing is heavily reliant on the connectivity and the internet of things (smart devices) to function and likewise doubles as a way for companies to harvest customer data — which can be sold off as an additional revenue stream or utilized to improve services.

The automotive sector, which now seems to fancy itself an extension of the tech industry, also began pivoting in this direction when CEOs started harping on electrification and the alleged importance of “connected mobility.” The industry has been going ape shit ever since, often to the chagrin of customers.

If you’re someone interested in ensuring the proliferation of the above concepts, the Acceleration Increase On-Demand is available through the Mercedes me connect app. The store currently offers a handful of upgraded features that leverage hardware the car is already equipped with and is supposed to get much bigger in the months ahead.

[Image: emirhankaramuk/Shutterstock]

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